Edward Grant (April 6, 1926 – June 21, 2020) was an American historian of medieval science. He was a student of Pearl Kibre and Marshall Clagett, and a longtime collaborator with Clagett. He taught at Indiana University for over thirty years beginning in 1959 and co-founded its department of history and philosophy of science and medicine with Norwood Russell Hanson. His honors include the 1992 George Sarton Medal, for "a lifetime scholarly achievement" as a historian of science.
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Early life and education
Edward Grant was born on April 6, 1926, in Canton, Ohio, to a Hungarian family. The family moved to New York City when he was six months old, and he grew up in the Bronx. He attended trade school and joined the U.S. Navy 1943–1946, serving as a radarman on the USS San Jacinto in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II.
After this military service, Grant attended City College in New York, where he graduated in 1951 after studying with medieval historian Pearl Kibre. On Kibre's suggestion, he continued to the University of Wisconsin to work with Marshall Clagett where he received a master's degree and a PhD in the history of science and medieval history in 1957. His thesis was The Mathematical Theory of Proportionality of Nicole Oresme (ca. 1320–1382). During this time, Grant spent a year at the University of Utrecht as a Fulbright Scholar from 1955 to 1956.